Audiophile Audition Staff Bios

Darrow Andelin

Darrow, (28 years old), receiving his BA from Northern Arizona University in ethnomusicology, is an appreciator of a wide spectrum of music, worldwide – emphasizing his study in Latin American music, West African rhythm, and the general evolution of music. He finds his fascination deepen in the world of downtempo electronic music, though, more than any other genre – with its use of cultural styles put to a chill tempo. Being a music producer himself, under the moniker, “Sparrow Mandolin,” he explores this blend between traditional folk international styles and contemporary electronic production techniques put to downtempo polyrhythmic syncopated beats.

Darrow, also interested in the so-called “un-musicality” that some people claim about themselves, discovered through his ethnomusicological research that a deep relationship to music is an evolutionary human birth-right that everyone has the ability to develop a unique mastery of. Because of his desire to correct the myth of people being born unmusical or non-artistic, and to promote a future of inspired and uniquely creative minds, Darrow teaches his progressive research in the modes of motivational speaking for children, is the founder of a musical “mommy-and-me” workshop called Cultivating Children’s Creativity, and has taught elementary school music.

Fritz Balwit

Fritz Balwit discovered music at about the age of six as he sat quietly at the foot of the steps listening to his mother play the Three-Part Inventions of Bach. Later he received some formal training in theory and composition, but his main tuition came by way of watching improvising musicians in a variety of musical contexts. He has advanced degrees from UW-Madison and has studied and worked in Israel, Germany and Mexico. He has worked in various academic setting teaching history, philosophy and linguistics. He is an avid and competitive chess and Go player and currently teaches these games in Portland area schools.

When he is not listening to chamber music or bebop, he enjoys reading, listening to birds, and playing his collection of instruments, including the lute. He counts himself fortunate to be surrounded by creative people in his family and is cheerfully receptive of their daily productions of literary, culinary and floral arts.

Jake Barlow

Jake Barlow is choral scholar at Truro Cathedral, where he follows an active career as a freelance singer, teacher, music journalist and vocal animateur. He holds a degree in Literae Humaniores from the University of Oxford, sang with the chapel choirs of Worcester, New, Magdelen, Merton and Queen’s Colleges, as well as the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. He has performed at many venues in the UK and Europe. He is Vocal Coach in Residence at New Cornwall Opera and Assistant Musical Director of the Cornwall Junior Choir, and maintains a teaching and academic tutoring practice at Truro. www.jake-barlow.com

Peter Bates

Peter Bates has been listening to classical music for over forty years. At his junior prom, instead of singing “Johnny Angel” in his date’s ear while slow dancing, he hummed the “Marche au supplice” from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. In college he reviewed musical performances for the Bates College Student. For about five years he wrote reviews of classical recordings for Classical disCDigest. On his web site Stylus (www.stylus.batescommunications.net), he reviews local performances of classical music and jazz of such groups as the Boston Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the Boston Chamber Music Players, and solo performers. He has been writing for Audiophile Audition since its inception in 1998. He works as a technical consultant for Analog Devices, plays the recorder, is an avid photographer and an often outrageous poet. He listens to music everywhere, in his car, on his Sandisk Sansa MP3 player while elliptically cross-training, on his JVC RX-8040B AV receiver, Pioneer DV-676A DVD player, Snell 5.1 surround speaker system, and Grado Reference Series headphones.

Daniel R. Coombs

joined the St. Stephen’s Chamber Ensemble as principal clarinet during the 2010 season. Originally from Chicago, IL, Mr. Coombs is a graduate of DePaul University with a BA in music performance and a master’s degree in education leadership from Loyola University. He studied clarinet with Raymond Kazman of the Grant Park Symphony and, while at DePaul, with Lorin Levee as well as a Master Class with Clark Brody. Mr. Coombs also studied conducting with Leonard Slatkin of the St. Louis Symphony. As a clarinetist, Daniel was a member of the Park Forest Symphony and the Chicago Heights Symphony. For over thirty years, he has also been a certified science teacher and educator both in Illinois and in Arizona. Mr. Coombs has served as a school principal in Scottsdale and, for the past seven years, as principal of Desert Ridge High School, Gilbert. Mr. Coombs is also the principal clarinetist for the Chandler Symphony as well as the Musica Nova Baroque. He performs chamber music professionally and for school groups. He also writes classical reviews for Amazon, Classics Online and HB Direct.

William “Zan” Furtwangler

William “Zan” Furtwangler has been an avid follower of recorded classical music for over five decades, attending concerts and including the audiophile scene. As an avocation, he has been a free-lance reviewer for the Charleston (S.C.) Post & Courier, writing about newly released recordings 1976–1987 and the lively arts in general 1977-2010. His writings have appeared in national journals and his reviews quoted in the on-line biographies of internationally known artists. More recently, he has been lured to the internet, reviewing for CharlestonToday.net, a site covering the arts. He is a life-long collector of recorded music, 98% classical. He holds a B.A. (English) and a Master’s degree (Public Administration). If his last name is familiar, it is because the great conductor was a first cousin, three times removed. His system is based on the theory that great sound reproduction can be obtained in a properly sized and shaped room with a mix of carefully selected equipment.

Robbie Gerson

became a jazz fan when his older brother returned from the army with multiple reel-to-reel bop. A self-taught piano player, he is fluent in various musical styles. Having lived in Philadelphia and San Francisco, he was able to experience a diverse range of live performers, including John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, and James Brown. Assorted activities include running a marathon, coaching youth sports and implementing local educational training programs. He collects vintage 78s, now lives in Arizona, and is a steadfast member of the Wolverine Antique Music Society, dedicated to the preservation of original vinyl recordings.

Tom Gibbs

A journalism major with a minor in Commercial Art, his early experience with newspapers soon transitioned toward the advertising field; is currently with publishing giant R.R. Donnelley (last eighteen years). Handles the creative and presentation needs of the Chamblee (Atlanta, GA) division, and also function as a Prinergy-qualified senior electronic prepress operator. For the last seven years has moonlighted at Delta Air Lines, working on publications of Delta’s Corporate Communications division.

A lifelong lover of music, Tom’s first exposure came at an early age. When his older brother returned from a stint in the armed forces with a truckload of audio gear, he was transformed into something of a hardware geek as well. That fascination with all things electronic continues to this day and has now morphed into a listening room/home theater. He has recently been dabbling in the black arts of iPods and MP3s. Tom is a lifelong outdoorsman of sorts, and enjoys hiking and backpacking.

Pierre Giroux

lives in Toronto Canada and has been a jazz fan ever since a chance encounter with Oscar Peterson, who at the time, was very early in his career. Thus began a lifelong attraction to the music and the people who played it. In an international business career that spanned forty years, there were opportunities to hear Chet Baker in Paris, Sarah Vaughn in Copenhagen, Ella Fitzgerald in Rome, Bill Evans in Montreal, Tal Farlow in London ,Woody Herman in Toronto, and Hank Jones in New York among many others too numerous to mention. The journey and fascination continues.

Randy Haldeman, Ph.D.

A native of Wisconsin, Randy Haldeman has taught Choral and General Music in all levels of academia – Pre-K through collegiate – in Wisconsin, Idaho, Illinois, Florida, Vermont, and Italy. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, the Master of Music degree in Voice and Opera Performance from Northwestern University, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Music Education (Choral Conducting emphasis) from The Florida State University. In addition to his musical life, for many years Haldeman earned his living as a recording engineer and technician. His recordings have found their way to NPR’s Performance Today, Fresh Air with Terri Gross, PBS, and many local channels. Audio work has included collaborations with performers such as William Warfield, Sherrill Milnes, Tori Amos, Bill Morrissey, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Garrison Keillor, and (my favorite) Marcel Marceau.

Calvin Harding Jr.

Calvin has been actively involved in the home theater industry since 1985. He is the editor and principal staff writer for Entertainment Gazette, a print publication launched in Central Florida in 1999. Calvin primarily reviews home theater components and 3D/2D Blu-ray movies. In addition to his reviews for Audiophile Audition, some of Calvin’s reviews have also been featured on websites including D-BOX, Studio Experience, Projectorcentral, Smarthome and Clark Synthesis. Calvin has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Central Florida and a doctorate from the University of Florida.

Stephen Hornbrook

also writes equipment and movie reviews for Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity (www.hometheaterhifi.com), along with being a full time software engineer. Stephen has a passion for film scores but a joy for all types of music: from Kanye to Bjork to Miles Davis and everything in between…except Justin Bieber. His home is in lovely Portland, Oregon and, as a graduate of The University of Oregon, he is quite the Duck fan.

Peter Joelson

started piano lessons aged four, joining them with organ lessons at 12 when he got a position as organist at his local church. A Science graduate, he taught Mathematics and was also Assistant then Director of Music as well. He enjoyed the trips to sing Evensong at various cathedrals, playing the organ at the services. He knew he’d reached his limits after being allowed to practise out of hours at Westminster Cathedral. He’s given concerts in chamber groups in the beautiful Dorset countryside of England. He’s very enthusiastic about high resolution formats and about careful, musical remastering of old recordings. He enjoys listening to a wide variety of music, from Bach to Charles Trenet, Julia Fischer to Barnabas von Geczy, Toscanini to Furtwaengler, Schnabel to Sudbin, and he has every volume of the Guild Light Music series in his collection.

Paul Kennedy

spent his working life in and around the computer industry. Now semi-retired, he helps small and medium technology companies understand and exploit their markets. Years of enforced piano lessons resulted in his love of listening to music. He is married , lives in Toronto near his three children, and enjoys time with his six grandchildren.

Jeff Krow

has been a jazz fanatic for over 30 years. Graduated from California State University, Chico, did a KCSC-FM college jazz radio show. Has 5000+ CD Jazz collection. His jazz genre favorites are hard bop, big band, West Coast jazz (50s-60s), soul jazz, and small group swing era. He attends many live sessions and his favorite jazz instrument is the trumpet. He lives in Portland, OR.

Ken Micallef

is a New York-based freelance writer whose work also appears in DownBeat, Electronic Musician, Modern Drummer, Autodesk.comandPositive-Feedback.com, where in addition to reviewing equipment, he writes the monthly Vinyl in the Round column covering vinyl.

Patrick P.L. Lam

Born in Hong Kong, Patrick holds the A.R.C.T. diplomas for Performers and Teachers from the Royal Conservatory of Music. He received both his degrees in the Life Sciences at the University of Toronto, where his doctoral research was in the fields of diabetes and pancreatitis. He has been a music critic and writer for both local and international publications abroad, including MusicWeb International. System: NAD L40 Receiver, Sony DVP-NS3100ES SACD/CD/DVD player, B&W DM601 speakers.

Ronald Legum

is a doctor in Maine, specializing in Cardiology. He plays the piano for relaxation, and thrives on good music, well-reproduced.

Mel Martin

Mel spent part of his early life working his way through college at a commercial classical FM station in Iowa. It was great to be paid for listening to and talking about great music. Mel spend most of his live in journalism and won a couple of EMMY Awards along the way. He has worked in Florida, Seattle, and spent 4 years in London at the BBC.

He wrote a biography of film producer Samuel Bronston (El Cid, Fall of the Roman Empire, King of Kings) and did DVD commentary on some of his movies. Now he does some consulting from his home in Arizona, as well following his passion of landscape and astronomical photography under the clear Arizona skies. He also writes about tech and computing for TUAW.COM He listens mostly on Magnepan 3.6R speakers, an Oppo BDP-103 and an Emotiva UMC-200 pre-amp driving an Emotiva XPA-2 300 WPC amplifier.

Robert Moon

Robert Moon has been attending concerts and collecting classical music recordings for over 50 years. He has been writing reviews of concerts and recordings, articles on music festivals and events, and interviews with musicians for seventeen years. He is the author of Copland, Gershwin & Bernstein: Celebrating American Diversity (2013) and Full Frequency Stereophonic Sound: A History and Discography of London/Decca Early Stereo Classical Instrumental and Chamber Music Recordings (1956-63) on Record and Compact Disc (1990). He writes a bi-weekly column, Modern Classical CDs, for the Rossmoor News in Walnut Creek, CA., where he also writes an occasional restaurant review. His career includes Assistant Manager of the Minnesota Orchesta, Director of the Kansas Arts Commission and City Spirit Facilitator for the National Endowment for the Arts. He has Masters’ degrees in Business Administration (University of Michigan) and Arts Management (University of Wisconsin) and lives in Walnut Creek, California.

John Nemaric

has been involved with classical music and to some extent early jazz since 1947. He has attended several hundred live concerts since that time. He received his B.A. in Anthropology at the University of California Santa Cruz and his Ph.D. in Archeology from Tudor College in the UK. Within anthropology he specialized in human complex systems, computerized modeling/simulation and ethnomusicology with particular emphasis in musical forms from Africa, Europe and South America. He has also reviewed classical music for a number of years. Presently he is researching the history of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the life of its former conductor William Steinberg. He also teaches (PT) courses related to the history of classical music, opera and ballet at Carnegie Mellon University. His favorite instrument is the Wagner B-flat tuba.

Lee Passarella

Lee caught the classical music bug in high school and hasn’t stopped listening since. When he moved from Philadelphia to Atlanta in the late 80s, he had to jettison around 6,000 LPs. Now he’s trying to hit the same mark with CDs and SACDs. Lee played clarinet (atrociously) and trumpet (pretty well) in high school, studied piano for over ten years, and sang in choruses in college and grad school. His fondest memory from those days is singing the German Requiem with the fabulous Curtis Symphony Orchestra.

Lee wrote classical music reviews for the New Records for ten plus years, keeping his hand in by offering his two cents’ worth on Amazon.com. He’s also published three books of poetry and acts as senior literary editor for Atlanta Review magazine. For a living, he turns to technical writing. Lee received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul Pelon IV

has been collecting records for the better part of 20 years. A jazz enthusiast, weekend nihilist and abstract artist, his life at times appears to enjoy the delightful other-worldliness of a Wes Anderson film. He has been writing reviews for Audiophile Audition for 8 years. When not crunching numbers and projecting margins during the 9-5 pace, he can be found managing local bands in the Grand Rapids music scene, entering international art competitions and planning the perfect getaway soundtrack for going on the lam. On his turntable is an ever revolving door of esoteric tunes that keeps his golden ear on the pulse of society. He’s a cultural hound with the musical knowledge and appreciation to give even the most discriminating of audiophiles something new to discover.

Steven Ritter

Studies at Indiana University with Eugene Rousseau (sax) and University of North Carolina at Greensboro with Raymond Gariglio (clarinet and winds), composition (Jack Jarrett), and Peter Paul Fuchs (conducting). B.A. in Music History and Theory. Writing professionally for 20 years now with AmericanRecord Guide, Fanfare, and Audiophile Audition. A priest in the Orthodox Church (which has a continuing tradition of excellence in its musical heritage), and has also developed a great love for ancient church chants of all kinds, and choral music in general – aside from the great symphonic and chamber music treasures of the world. Contributed to many publications musical and theological, and authored a book: That Your Joy May Be Full – Crossroads of Orthodox Faith and Life. Steven is a composer and arranger of Orthodox Church music.

Darren Robinson

Darren received bachelors of horn performance from New Mexico State University and a master of music education form Arizona State University. Darren has had experience teaching music K-12; general music, guitar, drum ensemble, band, and strings. In addition to now teaching horn privately to students from beginners to retirees, he is as active player in the Phoenix area; having worked from solo and chamber groups to theater and orchestras. Not only experienced in playing on almost every standard band and string instrument, Darren has forays into piano, bagpipes, writing poetry, lyrics, arranging and composing.

Doug Simpson

B.A. in Broadcasting with an emphasis on film criticism, California State University, Los Angeles. Worked as an U.S. Navy broadcast journalist for 5 years, including a stint as radio station manager. Has been an avid music collector for 30+ years. His lifelong obsession with music came at an early age growing up in Alaska, due to his father’s extensive classical music collection, and blossomed when he first heard rock and jazz in junior high. He has written music reviews and features for several print and online publications, including Skyscraper, Campus Circle, InSound, The Scene L.A., The Silver Lake Local, and News4U. He currently works as a graphic artist and music analyst for a Los Angeles market research company.

John Sunier

has been involved in broadcasting and audio for well over five decades. He received his M.A. music at the University of Iowa and worked at stations WSUI/KSUI there, then received his M.S. in Communications at Boston University while working at WGBH-FM in Boston. He was music producer of the educational radio series The Standard School Broadcast for six years, and later Director of Sound for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Films. He was program director and/or manager of FM stations in the San Francisco area, as well as editor of FM GUIDE and SOUND ADVICE magazines. One of his three AV books was THE STORY OF STEREO 1881- (Gernsback Library, NY) and is available for free at an online download site.

He was active in binaural recording and was founder of THE BINAURAL SOURCE. He has been a longtime classical and jazz record reviewer – including for AUDIO magazine for a decade, and currently AUSTRALIAN HI-FI. John is married to Donna and lives in Portland, Oregon with a harpsichord, electric piano, loads of SACDs, DVD-As, CDs, LDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, LPs, cassettes, and open reel tapes.

AUDIOPHILE AUDITION was previously a national radio program for audio buffs and music lovers, and served millions of public radio and concert music station listeners for 13.5 years. The hour-long weekly program began in April 1985 with 53 stations, and was carried on up to 200 stations nationally – both public radio and commercial classical. Changes in national public and commercial radio programming policies prevented its continuation. Its web site listing the weekly programs was expanded to the present AUDIOPHILE AUDITION publication in 1998 and recently re-designed, which according to one ratings site has over 186,000 readers per month.
John’s system:

Marantz Processor/Preamp/Tuner

Oppo BDP-95 Blu-ray/Universal Disc Player

SOTA Star Vacuum Turntable on 4″ Mapleshade base

SME-V Tonearm (modded) with Grado Reference MM cartridge

Nova II Phono Preamp

Consonance M400 tube monoblock amps (3)

Von Schweikert VR-2 speakers (4); 3 on Mapleshade bases

Von Schweikert LCR15 center channel speaker

Paradigm Atom speakers for side height & 2+2+2 front height

Parasound HCA-2003 3-channel power amp

Panasonic 55-inch plasma 3D HDTV display

Channel Master roof TV antenna & DVX HD

Panasonic plasma 55″ HDTV display

AKG K-1000 headphones & K-1000 amp

Mapleshade, Kimber & Jena Labs cables

Tim Taylor

I was born in the Swing Era of 1942. The radio was constantly on at home as I grew up. I started to play clarinet in elementary school. I learned to play the b-flat, soprano, alto and bass clarinet in junior high. I was fortunate to move to a high school in the San Fernando Valley, California with a great music director and music program where I was exposed heavily to big band jazz. Several of my friends became pro-musicians, with Stan Kenton, Orin Tucker and other bands operating at the time. When the Sixties were in full swing I listened a bit to some rock ‘n roll, but Henry Mancini with his Peter Gunn jazz and easy listening music was a favorite that kept me grounded. I have been fortunate to have visited The Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, California which at that time was referred to as the home of West Coast jazz.

I strayed from jazz a bit for a number of years. My career took me to relocate in Oregon and I was constantly in a car and started listening to the jazz station in Portland, Oregon, KMHD 89.1 fm. I retired from my career and by a fluke ended up being a disc jockey in 2000 with KMHD. I was on the air Wednesday’s mid-morning on a show I named The Coffee Break and used the nickname JavaMan— on air thru 2009. I had an ear for well-performed jazz and the show was successful. It has been a great comfort and joy to hear the music as well as a catch up and learning process to evolving jazz. I have had the privilege to experience a bit of the jazz scene in Portland at the many venues.